We finally arrived and we were escorted through the medina to our ancient restored Riad. The building and the rooms were beautiful beyond belief. Our room was situated on the second floor, decorated and fit for a King. We had a view to the central courtyard of the building, which is what makes a Riad a Riad! They were built inward focused, which allowed for family privacy and protection from the weather in Morocco and they were also centrally focused on a courtyard or garden.
We ventured up to the rooftop with Mohamed the manager of the Riad for the most magically view over the entire medina and for a quick lesson on where everything was to get our bearings, as Fez is a maze of labyrinth streets which only the locals pretty much know where to go and a map is pretty much useless!! We woke to the most amazing breakfast I think I have ever had in a hotel / guesthouse before. The highlight was carrot and cardamom jam which was even tastier on these pancake cross between crumpet like pastries, and the orange juice was the freshest tart juice we had experienced.
We started day 1 with a guide to take us around and get a true insight to the local Berber traditions and to get more of an explanation of everyday life inside the walls of this ancient city. After our day tour we were left to our own devices to meander our way through the mazelike streets which was somewhat frustrating yet also it was exciting like we were children exploring a dreamlike city! Something which I got allot more out of this time visiting Fez was visiting the tanneries and learning more than just why it smelt like a dead rotten carcass!
We also stumbled upon a traditional spice and ancient remedies shop, which was really quirky and interesting. Our three days in Fez passed by so quickly, time to leave the hustle and bustle for more hustle and bustle as we caught our seven hour train ride to Marrakech.
I was so excited to be visiting this city again five years later. Wow how things had changed. It was always touristy but this was something else. The main square Jemaa El-Fnaa was a breeding ground for tourist’s and what was once a place of giving the sense of being in some ancient middle eastern place had turned into a Disneyland of snake charmer’s, tarot card readers and locals dressed in traditional dress, banging a drum and holding a chained up monkey dressed in dolls clothes all for a few dollars, sad really, but if you meandered past all this and dived head first into the alley ways that make up the souqs this was a totally different world.
Don’t get me wrong it still has the total touristy feel to it carpet seller after carpet seller yelling out “ where you from “ to get you lured into there market shop, but than you do find yourself looking through some old antiques and being able to have a chat with the owner without being forced into purchasing anything.
We stumbled upon the place where all the locals tend to eat, at first we thought “ should we “ but this was some of the most tastiest mouth watering tagine we had tasted until we were invited by Dana the host of the apartment we had rented for our stay in Marrakech to lunch. Dana is an American textile designer and she was a very interesting woman as we found out over lunch. She works for big Hollywood movies mainly set in Morocco doing there costume’s she reeled of a few but a big one was Babel that I recall.
I think our highlight of our Moroccan experience was our last day, and Dana organized a local driver for us to take us for a drive to the surrounding Atlas mountains, one hour or so out of the city and your surrounded by these amazing orange colored mountains.
We were taken to this amazing 2000 year old monastery where we had a picnic by the nearby river. The monastery was closed and all boarded up when we arrived and as if by magic out of nowhere a man with a key came to unlock it and show us around. Inside the Islamic architecture was so incredible and intricate and it was easy to see how grand this once would have been.
We set off higher and deeper into the mountains after lunch to a small town where we got out for a walk. The nature was so beautiful, you just needed to look up and you were surrounded by snow-capped mountains, hard to believe when it was around 30 degree’s!
We set back for Marrakech mid afternoon and spent our last night - last meal in the main square where it is transformed at night from the tourist trap to a culinary delight. It is filled with food carts selling their delights, from shwarmas to kebabs to snail soup! What a lovely way to end our few days in Northern Africa.
Like it!!
ReplyDelete